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Internet under threat
DATELINE: 27/1/12
Right now, a new global treaty could encourage corporations to police everything that we do on the Internet. Last week we successfully pushed back the US censorship bills - if we act now, we can get the EU Parliament to bury this new threat to all of us - click below to sign the petition:Join the campaign here:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_save_the_internet_spread/?sbc
Lord Patten calls for BBC local radio U-turn
DATELINE: 25/1/12
The BBC should perform a U-turn on planned cuts to local radio by putting back £10 million it had planned to axe, Lord Patten said today. The chairman of the BBC Trust said the governing body's decision was made after "real concerns" were raised by the public. In a speech to the Oxford Media Convention, Lord Patten said the corporation does need to make cuts, but he urged it to "look again" at plans for local radio.
Chilling effect on BBC journalism of licence freeze: a warning to Leveson Inquiry
DATELINE: 25/1/12
Mark Thompson, the BBC's director general, spent two and a half hours in front of the Leveson Inquiry on media ethics but to my great disappointment he did not offer an opinion on the government's six-year freeze of the licence fee, by far the greatest restraint on the quality and quantity of BBC journalism. There could hardly have been a clearer example of the chilling effect of government interference and the threat to the plurality of the British news media – two of the key issues which Lord Justice Leveson has been asked to address.
Co-ordinating Committee for Media Reform call for change
DATELINE: 25/1/12
Media advocacy and campaign groups call today for: A statutory right of reply; A public interest test for companies that secure 15% of any media market; Stronger cross ownership rules: Profit levies on communications companies and tax incentives to help sustain public interest news.
BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten rebukes David Cameron
DATELINE: 24/1/12
Without actually naming names, the BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten has condemned recent Prime Ministers for having kidded themselves that Rupert Murdoch's newspapers determined the outcome of general elections. When giving evidence to the Leveson Inquiry (23.1.2012), he condemned the "unseemly" behaviour of both Premiers and Opposition leaders in getting too close to Rupert and James Murdoch and their executives.
It's time for transparency about lobbying if we are to clean up politics
DATELINE: 20/1/12
Prevarication. Obfuscation. Delay. These have been the three government watchwords as they try to work out what to do with the lobbying industry. The government report on lobbying should be made as an oral statement to the House of Commons today, so that MPs have the chance to ask questions, but is more likely to be sneaked out as a consultation paper. The statement should then be quickly followed by legislation. Instead, there will be more delay while a long-winded consultation takes place.
Other recent stories
Iran's Press TV loses UK licence
MP who took on Rupert Murdoch launches campaign to safeguard Freedom of Information Act
Opinion: "Leveson: reasons to be wary of press promises"
Lobbyists to face statutory register
BBC wins right to broadcast prisoner interview
Cameron's links with the Murdoch press: only superficial probing at Leveson
Press Freedom: a democratic rubric
Supporting Bradley Manning
Mosley sues Google over sex video access
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Notices
Notices
Wapping Returns to London
DATELINE: 4/1/12
The non-stop revelations in the phone-hacking scandal have ensured that Rupert Murdoch was never far from the headlines last year, which made the 25th anniversary of the Wapping events all the more relevant. To mark the onset of 2012, the Exhibition commemorating Wapping, "The Workers' Story", returns to London, where it can be seen at the Bishopsgate Institute Library, 230 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 4QH from 9th January to 29th February. The exhibition is open Monday to Thursday and Saturday 10.am - 5.30pm on Friday 10am to 2pm
The Exhibition has been on display since August in various locations in London, Liverpool, Salford, Manchester and Brighton - the Marx Memorial Library, TUC Congress House, St George-in-the-East, Wapping, Liverpool Unite office, Goldsmiths College, the People's History Museum, Manchester, the Working Class Movement Library in Salford, and Unite conferences in Brighton and London.
A special edition of the Wapping Post was produced for the Exhibition in September highlighting the essentially anti-democratic aspects of News International's activities, particularly the company's anti-union stance. Trade union rights to be re-asserted and reinforced at NI, and this means abolishing the legal loophole which allows the company-funded and run Staff Association to pose as a union defending workers' rights.
Free Press and this website continue to summarise and analyse media issues and developments.
Some copies of the Wapping Post special edition are still available, along with anniversary badges. If you would like to help with the information desk at the Exhibition, please contact Ann Field (ann.field@btinternet.com) as soon as possible.
Latest - UnionNews has done a film on the Wapping exhibition the link to film is here: http://union-news.co.uk/2012/01/wapping-25-years-on-sun-sets-on-murdoch/
Getting the message across
DATELINE: 23/12/11
After a year which saw the biggest trade union protest in a generation as public sector workers demanded protection for their pensions, the Trades Union Congress is preparing to face 2012 and a set of challenges as great as anything in the decade of Margaret Thatcher's government.
A Chance for Change
DATELINE: 25/11/11
The CPBF's 'Leveson pamphlet', A Chance for Change, is now available as a download from the site - just click to retrieve it.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download PDFs of Freepress here.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Random Links
Links
sp media watch
European Institute for the Media
kurdishmedia.com
media reform - us-based campaigning group also known as Free Press
Taking Sides weblog on IRAQ
International Network for Cultural Diversity
Democracy Fail
NUJ New Media website
international federation of journalists
writers' guild of great britain
arab media watch
notwar.net - quirky international peace group with details of hundreds of campaigning peace groups
AllConferences.Com - Directory of Conferences, conventions, exhibits, seminars, workshops, events, trade shows and business meetings. Includes calendar, dates, location, web site, contact and registration information.
who owns what - from columbia journalism review
global journalism review
subscribe to 'the weekly spin'
indymedia: independent media
NUJ New Media industrial council
signs of the times
International Women's Media Foundation - US based organisation aimed at increasing women's participation in the media.
undercurrents (for the news you don't see on the news)
VLV (Voice of the Listener and Viewer - working for quality and diversity in British broadcasting)
One World TV
Alliance for Lobbying Transparency
International News Safety Institute
Ofcom website - the uk's broadcasting and telecoms regulator
european journalism centre
Index on Censorship - international campaign for free expression, based on publication and website
send e-mail to altmedia (you have to subscribe first)
campaign for freedom of information
Brass Check TV
new internationalist online
RAM (Refugees, Asylum-seekers and the Mass media) project bulletin
One World
New book: Creating Fear - News and the construction of crisis, David L. Altheide
presswise
new internationalist
vertigo - independent UK film magazine
jihad unspun - 'a clear view of the war against terror'
Pressnet: Journalists, Journalism and Mass Media in Internet.
cris - the campaign for communication rights in the information society
Exiled Journalists Network
alter-eu - The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation
information clearing house
British Helsinki Human Rights Group
Schnews - weekly newsletter from: Justice? Brighton's Direct Action Collective
Disinformation - US site combining analysis, rumour, paranoia and alternative lifestyles.
working for change (US)
